PJ Harvey @ the Royal Albert Hall 31/10/11

Moby @ The Roundhouse 02/06/11

Maybe it was the hangover from the night out before (and the morning of the day) celebrating my birthday, but Moby at the Roundhouse was very, very disappointing.  Should I really have expected anything else?  Maybe not. This is after all a rather dull man who makes rather mundane music, that more than often gets used to promote mundane products aimed at mundane people and their mundane lifestyles.

The audience was very much that “look, we’ve paid out on a babysitter so we’re gonna let our hair down tonight right” crowd.  The type of person who maybe has a couple of these “dance” acts on their i-Pod. Filed alongside Groove Armada, Faithless and put on a playlist that’s good to work out to at the gym or jog to etc.

I’m no longer a fan of Moby as you can see. Maybe 15 – 20 years ago there was some appeal, but so much as moved on since that his sound is irrelevant.  I don’t even know what that sound is.  On the night it varied from poppy dance music, of a kind you would play at a 8 year old’s party to weak acid jazz and a horrible cover of ‘Whole Lotta Love.’

Also when a performer is reduced to taking photos of the audience (rather then blasting their minds)  throughout the encore you know things are not right.

Lets remember this and only this from Moby…

These New Puritans @Heaven, London 18/05/11

4 new songs. 1 hour of Attack Music.

Listen: These New Puritans – Hidden

Short Circuit presents: Raster-Noton 12th May 2011

AtomTM on stage at The Roundhouse 12 May 2011

Listen: alva noto – summvs

Archive: Ugly Duckling @ Concorde 2, Brighton 03/03/01

And some live footage…(not from Brighton)

Listen: Ugly Duckling – Journey To Anywhere

Archive: Carl Cox / Laurent Garnier @ The Zap 27/02/95

Carl Cox / Laurent Garnier 1995 Brighton ticket

Carl Cox? Laurent Garnier? At The Zap club? On a Monday night? A school night? Doors open 10.30pm?

This is clearly one of the reasons why I left University education early.

Listen: Laurent Garnier – Shot In The Dark

Archive: Sultans Of Ping FC, East Wing, Brighton 10/2/93

Sultans Of Ping ticket 10/02/93

Another ticket, this time from February 1993. Sultans Of Ping FC at the Brighton Centre East Wing.  My least favourite venue in Brighton at the time.  It was basically a medium sized conference room minus the chairs and whiteboards with a stage at one end.

Support was from a band called ‘King Onz’ ? Anyway that was what I wrote on the back of the above ticket. If I remember rightly they were wearing American football style shoulder pads and platform boots.

I cannot remember anything about the Sultans. I’m sure they played all the hits.  They would have been touring the ‘Casual Sex In The Cineplex’ album and every track on that is a winner.

The band still seem to be around today, but sadly there are no tracks on Spotify to share. There was a time when the ‘Casual Sex’ went for quite a high price on CD via eBay so I never held on to any copies I had.

However there are plenty of clips on YouTube, including this interview from Rapido circa 1992 and the classic “Wheres Me Jumper?”

Archive: Its the Brits!

Its the second week of February so it must be Brits week!

Ticket for the Brit awards 1992

My sister was a member of the Britannia Music Club.  The club who would always advertise in the weekend supplements.  You signed up and got 10 CDs for free and then you would get sent another one each month. You either had to cough up the cash or send it back. It was always a poor selection.

They had competition or a give away and my sister managed to get a couple of tickets for the 1992 Brit Awards at Hammersmith Odeon.  Result! The only downside was we had to wear evening dress!

However that was a small price to pay for getting the chance to see a bit of Brits history in the making…

Archive: Suede, The Event, Brighton 1993

Suede recently released a greatest hits compilation, ‘The Best Of Suede’ and on Tuesday 7th December they play the O2, London.

So I thought it was time to post another ticket from the archive. One when I saw Suede play the Brighton Event. Support was from ‘Sharkboy’.

I wrote on the back of the ticket, ‘re-scheduled 19/05/93’ so I assume this was when the gig took place and the not the April date.

Also on the back are the songs played that night;

The Next Life / Moving / Animal Nitrate / Pantomine Horse / Metal Mickey / My Insatiable One / The Drowners / So Young / She’s Not Dead / Painted People / He’s Dead / To The Birds

Bernard Butler was still in the band of course and the I think the gig was just before or after the self titled debut album. The only memory I have was that it was rammed inside the Event.  Evidently oversold on the tickets due to the hype surrounding the band at the time. After trying to stick it out around the front I remember pretty much getting forced all the way back to the sides by the swirling crowd.

Just check out the price on the ticket. £7. I’m showing my age here, but that would probably get you nothing more then 2 beers at the 02.

Were you also at the gig? If so, leave your memories in a comment!

Listen: Suede – Suede (Remastered)

Archive: Midi Circus, The Event, Brighton 09/06/93

Archive: Megadog presents The Midi Circus, The Event, Brighton 09/06/93

£8 to see Aphex Twin and Orbital at one event! You’d probably have to pay ten times as much to see just one of them now. And then it would probably have to involve camping or something.

All I can remember from this is being blown away by the Aphex Twin’s performance.  That proper old school “oh my god that bass and volume has made me shit my pants” feeling. And the stobes. And ‘Didgeridoo’ live.

Again, I’ve got a C90 somewhere of Richard James playing a similar set at the same years Sound City which was broadcast on Radio 1FM.